


Fable

by Limanya



Category: Cytus (Video Game), Deemo (Video Games), Voez
Genre: Alternate Universe, Fluff, Gen, Light Angst
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-01
Updated: 2017-11-12
Packaged: 2019-01-07 19:24:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 14,810
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12239148
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Limanya/pseuds/Limanya
Summary: Tales of a magical forest, the creatures who have made their home there and a trio of siblings who discover what lies within the woods.





	1. The Girl and the Rabbit

**Author's Note:**

> This is based on my own Rayark Forest AU. If you'd like to, you can find me at ga1ahad.tumblr.com if you want to know a little more about this AU, or you can enjoy this fic and find out about this world as you go along.

“Make sure you’re home before it starts getting dark,” a voice called out.

“Got it!”

In a house in a village there lived a little girl, and the girl was just about to leave.  
The forest, her intended destination, was not far from the village. In fact, the village was just about bordering the forest’s edge. Surely she’d be able to get home in time! Nonetheless the small girl held a basket in her arms, filled with whatever food she’d pointed out to her brother as being ‘one of her favorites’.

She had a lot of favorites, the others thought.

“I have to take care of some stuff here,” Hans - that was her brother’s name - had said to the little girl a few hours ago. “Celia said she’d help. But if you promise not to go too far, I’ll let you go alone.”  
That was fine. She didn’t need to go any further beyond the little clearing in the woods, a miniature meadow filled with flowers. If she ate her lunch there, then filled up her basket again with flowers, she’d still have a lot of time left before it’d be even close to nighttime once she got home.

“Then, see you, Alice!”  
The two waved each other goodbye, and the girl set off.

For the villagers, it was hard to ignore the forest. It was, after all, a towering mass of trees seemingly stretching on endlessly - and right next to their home. Every day a few hunters - Alice could never get up early enough to see them - would spend hours at a time there, only returning to store their daily accomplishments somewhere.  
Even then, the hunters supposedly never went in that far. Neither had she, for that matter. Alice wondered just how big the forest was, but never dared to find out for herself. Only the foolish would, she’d heard someone mention one day.  
It had always been mysterious to her. There were a few words mentioned often regarding the woods: ‘enchanted,’ ‘cursed,’ ‘monsters.’ None of these made much sense to her, who’d never seen a hint of magic anywhere near the forest. Could magic even be seen? All the vague accounts she’d hear only puzzled her young mind.

Sometimes she didn’t quite catch what someone was saying. Either she or Celia would immediately turn to either the speaker or their brother for help - but it seemed that, sometimes, Hans would instead be opposed to telling them what was said. “You don’t want to know,” he’d say. “The forest is a lot more dangerous than I thought.”  
And yet, nothing ever went wrong. Not today, either. The basket swung back and forth as Alice alternated between skipping and walking along the main path. Her way was a little jagged - after awhile, she decided it would be fun to try and jump on the little spots of light where the sun just managed to shine through. Sometimes, she’d look up to see if she was still going the right way, but there was nothing else to worry about right now.

And so she arrived at the clearing - a large round circle of grass and flowers where a familiar aroma always stuck around. She went right to the center, her skipping even more upbeat this time, and sat down right next to her basket. Alice took the cover off and inspected the contents.  
She’d secretly reached her hand into the basket before, when she’d gotten a little hungry on her way through the forest. As she thought, a little cake laid there, torn in half - the other half would be for later. There was some bread and a few berries for her to snack on. But it all seemed like it was too much for her to eat. Of course, given that it was her brother who’d prepared this for her, that hardly seemed like much of a surprise. Maybe she’d give the other half of the small cake to Celia, she thought.

For a few seconds, Alice closed her eyes and enjoyed the warm sunlight. The villagers were all wrong. How could anyone not feel safe here?

But suddenly, she heard a strange rustling.  
It wasn’t anything like the natural background noise the forest provided. No, this was definitely different. Her eyes shot open and she looked around, trying not to make any noise. She couldn’t see anything at first glance. Was it nothing? She hoped so.

No, she could notice something - a bit of movement, right where the flowers grew tallest. Alice slowly began to stand up, the basket now around her shoulder, though not fully; if it was an animal, she didn't want to startle it. As she neared the spot the sound and movement came from, she saw it, right there - hidden in between all the flowers sat a small rabbit, looking up at her.  
Alice tried to get even closer, but had apparently made a wrong decision in that. The rabbit turned around and dashed away, into the forest, away from the clearing. And immediately, without thinking about where she would be going, Alice began to run after it.

She had reason to. Because from what she had seen in those few moments, the rabbit was unlike any she’d ever seen before: its coloring, most notably the bright orange pelt, didn’t seem quite right. Nor did the small antlers it sported between its two large ears. Alice wondered whether it was even really a rabbit. Was this one of the strange creatures she’d heard stories of? If so, she could only hope that it was the good kind - though her rush left her little opportunity to think about that anyway.  
Whatever it was, it seemed very determined to get away from her. Alice tried to decide after which point she’d stop running and return to the clearing, as long as she could still find her way back there. She didn’t want to risk losing time by looking behind her, but she was about sure that if she turned right around, she’d end up at the flowers again.

The rabbit was fast, but she didn’t want to give up. If she succeeded, she could possibly get answers regarding the nature of this forest. While unfamiliar birdsong and wind rushing past her filled her ears, Alice realized that curiosity had once again gotten the better of her.  
And then Alice felt something tough suddenly crash against her body.

Everything turned black.

“Is she awake?” was the next thing she heard.

Alice opened her eyes with some difficulty; she felt tired, but why?  
Slowly, she tried to get up. Someone suddenly held their arms around her to steady her still somewhat wobbly movements, and Alice looked up.

“Be careful, please. You shouldn’t get hurt any more,” a gentle voice said. This one was different from the first one she heard. It belonged to a woman standing next to her, one who kindly smiled as soon as she noticed she’d gotten Alice’s attention.  
The woman had long, brown hair - just like Alice. The white dress she wore reminded her of herself as well; this one, however, was much larger and more intricate than anything she’d ever worn. With the small crown of spires she wore, she made a positively regal appearance - though not an imposing one by any means.  
But there was something off about her. Certain things about her seemed to be different from what she was used to. Once Alice noticed one thing, more little details made themselves clear: the shape of her pupils, the pointed ears, the small scaled patches on her cheeks. And when Alice raised her body up a little more, she got a clear view of what was beyond the woman’s dress: a large white snake tail.

Alice suddenly crept back, her legs now close against her body. Before she opened her mouth, however, the woman reached out once more, this time more hesitant.  
“Please, don’t be scared,” she quietly said. “None of us want to hurt you. You’re safe here, I promise.”

Alice nodded without looking up at her.

A door opened. Another person entered the room: this one seemed familiar in a different way. Unlike the woman, this one was a child, like herself - though it was clear she was still the youngest person in the room. He was dressed in bright colors, but that wasn’t even what stood out to Alice. No, it was the bright, orange hair, it was the somehow multicolored rabbit ears on top of his head, it was the antlers in between.  
“Uh,” he began upon meeting Alice’s gaze, “I’m… sorry about that.”

Alice did not respond; however, she did note that this was the voice she first heard. The boy came closer.  
“I got scared, and, uh… you weren’t supposed to follow me. Or see me. And I, uh - Leiv, how am I supposed to do this?!”

“I think this is good. It’s time you got some practice apologizing,” the woman answered him, raising her hand to her mouth in order to stifle a laugh.  
“Okay, okay,” the boy continued, “what I wanna say is… Uh, I’m sorry you fell? And we had to drag you out here, and… Oh yeah. Trip stole some food. Basket should still be around here somewhere, though? Uh… Okay, I’m sorry. This is a mess.”

“I… fell?” Alice expectantly looked at the two of them.

“Y-yeah. Uh… you might’ve figured that was me you were running after. Guess you tripped or something? Anyways, I got the others to take you here. Seemed kinda unfair to just - to just leave you there.”

“That’s the first time I’ve heard you admit something’s unfair, Raise. Or the first time I’ve even heard you accept your blame.” Leiv looked at the boy, then back to Alice.  
“I’m sorry if this is confusing,” she said. “Humans… humans aren’t supposed to know about us. I can let you stay here for the days you need to recover, but please promise me you won’t ever tell anyone once you get back.”

“I...” Alice started, meanwhile feeling her head and noticing that it had some bandages wrapped around it. “I don’t know what to do.”  
“What do you mean?” Leiv asked.

“M-My brother. He said to come back in time...” Alice quietly said, her voice somewhat shaky. “What if he and my sister get worried? What if they come looking fo-for me..?”  
Leiv sighed. “I’ll… I’ll tell some of the others to keep an eye out for them.”

“Thank you,” Alice answered her, though she still seemed to be a little hesitant in her words.

“Now, erm… What is your name, if I may ask?”

“I-It’s Alice.”  
“Alice,” the woman continued, “I’ll make sure someone stays near you at all times. If you need something, just ask. Raise here will stay with you a little longer now - it’s only fair that he does, after what he caused to happen to you. Either way, please take care.” She smiled, then turned and left the room.

“Um,” Alice began, before turning to face Raise, “what do I do now?”  
“Dunno,” he replied, “but looks like you gotta rest. Go sleep so I can sneak out - it’s boring here.”

“I’m sorry… Erm, mister Raise..?”

“Raise’s fine - though I guess that finally settles who looks older, Trip...”

“We-Were you really that… that rabbit?”

“Yeah, of course! Uh, how do I put this… You’ve managed to get into the super-ultra-cool part of the forest, where there aren’t really any humans. Or something like that. But yeah, you’re probably not used to any of this stuff. Then, watch this… Trip, catch!”  
Suddenly, the boy leapt into the air - and what followed was nearly too fast for Alice to properly see. Out of thin air, a short girl suddenly made her appearance, holding out her hands and catching the rabbit who had now appeared in Raise’s place.  
“See?” his voice sounded again, this time from his new form.

The new girl approached Alice, setting the strange rabbit on the bed between Alice and where she then proceeded to sit.  
“Hi,” she said. Her voice was light, but it wasn’t quite clear whether she sounded innocent or not. Though this girl looked a little more normal than the others Alice had met so far, she could see two large cat ears protruding among her short blonde hair. Sticking out from under her sky-blue dress was a tail, gently moving back and forth. And, of course, the girl had appeared seemingly without entering the room - had she been here all along?  
“I’m Trip,” she continued, meanwhile petting Raise. “And you’re cute. What kind of berries were those?”

“I...” Though Alice had seen her fair share of strange happenings today, this was the point at which she no longer knew what to say.  
“I don’t know,” she managed to finish, though no other words would come out for now.

“Aw… That’s fine, I’ll look for them myself. Or d’you really wanna come?”

Alice looked down. “I don’t think I can yet.”

“That’s fine, that’s fine!” Trip smiled. “Wait, gimme a second. You take care of Raise!”  
Suddenly, she stood up and ran off, leaving the rabbit behind. Once she left, Alice carefully reached out to Raise, and with a shaky hand tried to stroke his fur. Though she wasn’t sure whether she could or not, Alice took his moving closer as a yes.

“Raise?”

“Mhm?”

“Where am I?”

“Uh… I’m not supposed to tell you the way to get here. But you’re still in the forest. Like I said, this is a super secret village! And this is Leiv’s house. Not very big, huh… Can’t remember the last time I was in here. If ever.”

“I’m back!” Trip yelled as she entered. This time, she was carrying a basket - the same as Alice had taken with her into the forest. She set it down in front of Alice, who immediately checked to see if it really was hers.  
“It’s yours, don’t worry,” Trip said, as if she could read Alice’s mind. “Um, I’m sorry about what happened to the food. B-But, I fixed it..!”  
The basket was filled - but not with what Alice had taken with her. Instead, there was a colorful assortment of sweets inside. Alice reached down to take one - she couldn’t see what it looked like through the paper wrapping, but the wrapping itself was brightly decorated.

“Hey, Trip! Did you _steal_ those?!” Raise suddenly yelled, before shifting back to his more human-like form. 

“Wow, never thought I’d see _you_ accuse me of thievery!” Trip responded, drawing her hand to her mouth in an exaggerated gasp.”

“N-No, you definitely stole those! I _made_ them, of course I’d know!” Once Raise saw Alice once again trying to back away, he reached for the basket and placed it on her lap. “Fine! Alice, you can have them.”

“T-Thank you..?” Alice only just managed to squeak out. She put the candy she had taken back into the basket, then reached for her head with both hands. Though she had been fine for a moment, something was hurting now - she looked down in distress.  
“Wait, are you alright?” Raise asked, reaching a hand out to hold her but hesitating at the last moment.

“Great! Look at what you’ve done, Raise!” Trip said. It wasn’t clear to Alice whether she was serious or not, and thinking about it was too exhausting.

“What _I’ve_ done?! You weren’t even supposed to be here!” Raise took it as being the former, clearly.

“Fine,” Trip said, “I’ll go.”  
With those words, Trip took a few steps back so that she was now at the other side of the room. Suddenly, she bolted towards the bed, making a leap at the last moment - and, just as Raise had done before, shifted mid-air.

Alice looked at the small cat sitting next to her on the bed. Admittedly, it was more difficult to tell with cats, but she was sure she saw it flash a mischievous grin before climbing up to Alice’s lap. “I’ll just disappear for now,” she heard Trip’s voice say.  
With that, Trip jumped over to the blanket, which had now been left abandoned in a messy pile. She took one side of it in her mouth, before returning to Alice’s side and trying to get it over her as well as she could in this form. Once she was somewhat satisfied with the results, Trip then crawled under the blanket, eventually finding her spot somewhere next to Alice’s leg.

“Okay, sure, you two go sleep or something,” Raise said in a somewhat helpless tone. “I’ll go and see if there’s actually anything to do.”

Alice drifted off before she could hear the door close.


	2. The Village in the Woods

“Hey, kid. Wake up.”

“C’mon. Not nice to leave your visitors waiting.” Alice woke to the sound of yet another unfamiliar voice.

Trip had left, she felt. Either that or she was hiding again, though she didn’t come off as being all that patient. Next to her bed stood a tall man, with long dark hair. Where his arms would be, there were instead a pair of large feathered wings, with colors like flames. Alice caught a glimpse of another pair on his back. He didn’t seem to have noticed she was awake yet, though.

“I don’t wanna have to start kicking the bed. Wake up already.”

Alice wondered just what he was willing to do to wake her up, but decided not to find out. “Good morning,” she said, her voice not having entirely woken up yet.

“Morning,” he answered her. “There’s guests outside waiting for you,” he then said, pointing one of his wings at the door. “Found ‘em in the middle of the night. They’ve been waiting for quite some time now.”

“Um,” Alice quietly began, “who are-” “You’ll see,” the man interrupted. “Come in!”

The door opened.

And the next thing she knew, Alice was being held by both her siblings - Hans wrapping both his arms around her body, Celia simply holding her hand. “We’re glad you’re safe,” Hans said, paying no mind to the bandages she still had around her head. “I’m assuming I got the right people, then,” the winged man said. “I’ll go tell Leiv.” With that, he left the three of them on their own.

Once he had exited the room, Alice returned her brother’s embrace. “I’m sorry,” she said. “I’m really sorry.”

“It’s okay,” Hans responded, his hand moving to her face, prepared to wipe her tears before there even were any. “Raise - you met him too, right? - told us. It’s not your fault. Would’ve happened to me too, probably.” Alice could hear a small laugh escape.

“Does it still hurt?” Celia asked, gently tracing the bandages with her hand. “Not right now. But I don’t know when it will,” Alice said. 

Celia nodded at her. “Leiv told us. That you need to rest for a few days before she’ll let you go home. They’re letting us stay here, too. Seems they’re actually worried about you.”

“Alice,” Hans then said, “do you want to explore the village with us? Only if you’re feeling up to it, though. If you’re tired, please rest instead.”

“I think I’m feeling okay,” Alice said as she got up. “Um… I haven’t actually seen what’s outside this house.”

“If all you see is trees, you’re lost,” Celia remarked with a rare laugh, then headed towards the door, waited a few seconds to let the others catch up somewhat, and left. “Looks like she wants to go on her own,” Hans said. “If you want to go alone too, that’s fine. I’ll come with you for now, though.” He smiled and took her hand, then guided her out.

It was still early in the morning, contrary to Alice’s expectations. There wasn’t much activity to be seen yet. However, being free of distractions allowed her to get a clear view of how the village looked.

In fact, it wasn’t so much a village as it was simply a gathering of houses, connected by stone pathways and plazas that had long since been covered in moss. The houses, mainly made of wood, all looked different, though Alice could not tell which of the villagers she met lived where. Simple lanterns and flowers lined the paths. Alice saw a few pathways leading out of the village. One went through a gate which she assumed marked the village’s main entrance; she had no idea where the others went. In the trees above, a few birds had just begun to sing, but there was little else to hear around this time of day.

“Morning,” said a voice. Coming from the gate were two women - one of them had slightly raised her hand in greeting and smiled at Alice and Hans before stopping in front of them.

The one who had greeted the two was the stranger-looking of the pair; large horns stuck out between her long blue hair, and neither her eyes nor ears looked like that of a normal human. Her lower body, most notably, seemed to be that of an animal, covered in white fur - rather than feet, she had hooves, and Alice could see a short tail sticking out as well. She seemed to be wearing some form of armor and was carrying a sword, something Alice didn’t expect to find in a forest.

The other was less obviously nonhuman: mostly hidden by her long, wavy crimson hair were two pointed furry ears, currently the only visible hint of her true nature. Beneath her red cloak, there was a little movement, likely indicating some sort of tail as well - though Alice did not want to ask. Something, however, seemed strangely familiar about this person - had Alice seen her before?

“Good morning, Iris - and… Rosabel, right?” Hans smiled back, placing his hand on Alice’s shoulder. “You’re up early.”

“So are you,” Rosabel said. “We only just got back from our patrol. We’re lucky, though. Nighttime is the most fun time, after all.” “I’d love a change of pace sometimes, though,” Iris said to her. “You chose for the both of us. Anyways,” she now addressed Alice and Hans again, “is there anything I can do for you?”

“Not really. I’m showing Alice around - well, not really showing around. I don’t know this village well enough myself to do that, but this is the first time she’s left her bed. It might be good to look for something to do, as long as we’re staying here.”

“Mm. I see. We’d love to show the two of you around, but we’re afraid we don’t have much time for that. It’s been a long night; we have to get some rest, and then get a few other things sorted. Either way,“ Iris said, “I wish you good luck.” The two walked away, headed somewhere on the other side of the village. Alice tried to see where exactly they were going - though she lost track of them, she did spot Celia sitting on a small bench, holding what looked like a book in her hands. Trip and Raise, in their shifted forms, were sitting next to her, along with a green-haired girl, but Alice thought it better not to disturb her sister any further.

The village was beginning to wake up, yet neither of them knew where to go. Eventually, Hans had spotted one of the villagers going down one of the unknown paths, and decided to inquire about where it led. Making his way down the path was a boy who looked to be more nonhuman than human: his lower body was that of a deer, and on his head - like Raise - there were antlers. He carried a little basket of food with him, and was paying only little attention to his surroundings.

“Excuse me,” Hans said, lightly tapping the boy on his shoulder. He stopped and turned around, then smiled once he saw who had approached him. “Oh, it’s you! Is there anything you need?” the boy said in a cheery voice. Somehow, from the fluffy blonde hair to the freckles on his face, everything about him seemed so happy and so very gentle. Alice smiled back.

“If it’s alright, may we come with you? We could talk a bit, if you want,” Hans said to him, taking a few steps further down the path to illustrate.

“Sure! Sounds fun,” the boy said as he resumed his way, while Alice ran a little to catch up with them. “You’re Alice, right?” he then asked Alice once the two were walking side to side. “I’m Meteo. Um, I don’t think you saw me because you were asleep, but I stayed with you for a little yesterday.”

“Then,” Hans said, “I’m glad you did. I’m her brother, Hans - I came here last night with her sister looking for her. Although, I have to admit… this place is a little strange. To me, at least.”

“Leiv mentioned something like that,” Meteo responded. “And yeah, I can imagine that. To be honest, humans are still a bit scary to me,” he said with a nervous laugh, “especially since I never see them. So it really is all humans out there?”

“It is. I can understand why you’d like to keep this place a secret,” Hans said. “We have to leave as soon as Alice is feeling well enough, and I’d rather not leave our house empty for too long, but… It really is nice here.”

“We’re there,” Meteo said.

They stopped in front of a lake. The water was beautiful and clear, and Alice wondered if any human had ever discovered it. It wasn’t all that large, and the edge was marked in the most beautiful way by a line of colorful flowers running all the way past it. The morning sun sparkled on the water, and Alice thought to herself how it’d be a difficult task _not_ to jump in.

Meteo ran into the lake, hooves navigating effortlessly along the slope and careful not to crush any flowers or trip over any rocks. Once the water was about a fifth up his legs, his gaze scanned the still waters. “Good morning!” he yelled, then waited a few seconds. When he began to move again, preparing for a second call, ripples appeared from about near the center of the lake - and rapidly closed in on Meteo.

“Morning,” said a voice. Where the movement had stopped, right in front of Meteo, now sat the cause: a blue-haired boy with a striking similarity to the one that had called him. His voice was similar, but only a little weaker, more tired. From what Alice could tell, he’d just been woken up, after all. Though Meteo moved back, so that the water only barely touched him, the other boy only made it a small amount further. When Meteo sat down, however, he started to drag himself out to sit next to the deertaur, and Alice could see the reason for this strange behavior. Of course, it’d be only logical for a mermaid to live in a lake: however, before seeing the glimmering azure scales on the boy’s tail, she didn’t even know whether they were real or not.

From now on, she’d just assume that anything was real, and that it’d probably be here.

“Oh,” he said, looking up at Alice and Hans. “You’re… You’re the humans who came here last night, aren’t you? I heard some commotion,” he quietly mentioned, still looking for his words.

“Actually, I -” Alice started, but was quickly interrupted. “Alice came here earlier,” Hans then said. “She’s the girl who got hurt. I came here last night with her twin sister.”

“I’m sorry,” the boy said. “Um, I’m Meteor. I’ve, well… I’ve never seen humans before. You were only going to be here a couple of days, right?”

“That means we’ll have to enjoy it while it lasts,” Meteo said, not giving either of them a chance to respond. He held the basket out in front of him, careful not to set it in the water, and offered Meteor a small piece of bread after taking one for himself. “Oh, um,” Meteo spoke slowly, chewing in the meantime. “I don’t have enough food for four, I think.” He then turned to the humans, while his hand reached out to that of Meteor. “I didn’t expect you to come with me. Sorry about that. But, um, if you need anything, please ask around in the village!”

He stared down at the water for a few seconds, in thought, then looked back at them again. “My house is the one with the yellow flowers. If you go there, I should still have more than enough food lying around. Though… Please don’t take everything, alright? I- I mean, I trust that you won’t, but…”

Meteo sighed. “It’s tricky to get stuff around here, sometimes. I don’t want to inconvenience the others, if you understand.”

Hans nodded. “Living here in a way that ensures humans remain unaware of you… I can barely imagine it.” “Until now,” Meteo said, a small smile on his face.

Alice said nothing, but her thoughts would not stop running around. Did all the villagers really consider them as welcome? Either way, they had to, as long as they stayed here; Alice could only hope they did.


	3. The Return and the Reunion

Three more days came and went. By the time Leiv, who had taken Alice’s care upon her, deemed her well enough to go home, they’d met a few more villagers. Possibly because of this, however, it was that Alice did not seem all that excited to return home. Instead, she seemed saddened.  
“What’s wrong, Alice?” her brother had asked her, while he tried to gather what little stuff he had taken with him and subsequently left lying around.  
“Well, it’s just… It’s really fun here, and this is probably the last time I’ll ever see them, right? I wish I could come back here someday.”

“Then,” Celia said, already prepared to leave whenever needed, “you shouldn’t have gone around making friends with everyone.” Her tone was harsh - though that was something both Alice and Hans had come to expect of her.  
“So what?” Alice responded. “What have you been doing all the time, then? Haven’t you talked to anyone?” It was clear she took offense to Celia’s words - however, she found it difficult truly direct any anger at her.  
“Reading,” Celia said, then stood up and crossed her arms to signal her impatience. She did not seem willing to speak any more, and so Alice simply went on with the things she was supposed to do. If she wanted to go that badly, she shouldn’t have interrupted the ones who weren’t ready yet, Alice thought.

Alice could not help but grin as she noticed the basket - one of the last things she took - still had some of the candy in it. At least I’ve got one thing to take with me, she thought. Even though Celia would probably disapprove.  
Moments later, the time had come for them to say their goodbyes. Trip had offered to lead their way out of the forest, as she likely stood the least chance to be seen as suspicious by any outsiders. Besides, she had noted, she could just vanish if anything went wrong - though there was very little doubt whether things would go well.

The farewells did not last as long as expected - possibly influenced by Celia’s words. But before they could cross the gate and finally set off, Leiv came forward once more, approaching the small group.  
“I’m sure you already know this,” she said, “but this is very important. Please promise that you will never tell anyone else about us.”  
Her voice was different than what Alice had gotten used to: she was pleading. Worry was holding her in its grasp, and it was not until all three humans had agreed that her smile returned, albeit slight. “Then,” she said, “I wish you well.”

The sunlight guided them on their way home, and Trip - though her requests to sit in the basket went ignored - fulfilled her duty in such a way that it did not seem possible for the girl Alice had come to know in the past few days. “I’m just protecting the forest,” she’d noted. “All of us have to.”  
After a certain point, it became clear where the roles began to shift. Trip trod more carefully, more hesitantly, while the others walked at a confident pace, only rarely slowing down to check if they really were walking the correct path. That point was the furthest they’d ever been - either into the forest or out of it.

Once the village was in sight, Trip stopped. “That’s where you live, isn’t it?” she asked, speaking in a hushed voice. “I wish I could stay with you a little longer. Maybe - maybe I’ll sneak out a bit, like Raise did. Um, a-anyways...”  
She turned around, readying herself to run. “Enjoy the candy, okay?”

And then she disappeared into the forest.

In the few days they had been gone, nothing about the village seemed different. It was not something they’d expect to have happened, either. It was a quiet village, and quiet meant that little changed. Was the forest village like that, too? They couldn’t stay long enough to tell.  
It was somewhere around noon, and there was no indication that much was going to happen. No villagers approached them or welcomed them back. In fact, their disappearance was so sudden that it was a very real possibility that _none_ of them had even noticed.

The remainder of this day, and the one that followed, both lacked any news of importance. As they went back to old habits, the topic that lingered in their minds - the events that had transpired in those woods - saw little discussion. While Celia didn’t seem to care much, even though Alice was thoroughly convinced that she’d been intrigued nonetheless, her siblings were more reluctant to talk about it. They were safe in their own house, but the risk was too unpredictable to take.  
The events of the following day, however, started early in the morning, earlier than anyone was used to. It began with a knock on Alice’s bedroom door, soon followed by more; then, once it became clear that was not enough, the door opened.

“Alice, wake up. Please, it’s -”  
Her brother’s voice stopped once Alice opened her eyes, still too tired to show any hint of surprise. With Hans’ assistance, she got up - but did not ask what his reason was for waking her up like that.

“Something’s very, very wrong,” Hans then said. It was only now that Alice noted there was something odd about his appearance - it wasn’t that cold out, surely. Yet he was dressed as if for winter. “It’s Celia. She - she won’t tell me what’s going on, but… Well, come with me.”  
Taking her hand and guiding her towards her sister’s room, Hans’ grasp felt more firm than usual. Alice wondered what it could be to break even his usual confidence.

Sounds of a faint sniffling seemed to be hidden in a corner of the room, though Alice wondered if it was something she only made up from the unusual posture Celia was in. Of the twins, Alice was the more emotional one, while the distant Celia preferred thinking over feeling. To see her covering her face entirely with her hands, shaking, was so strange it could not even be classified as an uncommon sight.

The dress she wore was one of the few Alice did not have a matching one of. It was a large, white dress with an eerie look - particularly the large hood she had pulled over her head as far as she could. “I’ve asked,” Hans said to Alice, “but she isn’t going to show her face soon.”  
On the wall hung a few seemingly decorative masks, contributing to the unsettling feeling that made Alice generally avoid going into Celia’s room. Hans reached up and took one, inspecting it to see that it could, in fact, be worn - hopefully. He handed it over to Celia, who stopped shaking but kept her hands in place, then quietly muttered a “Leave,” before turning around and waiting.

As soon as they had left the room, there was some shuffling and creaking as Celia finally left her spot. Once she was done, she left and simply stood there, her body now entirely obscured. “We need to go,” she said.  
“Take whatever you want,” she followed up, pointing at a full bag sitting next to the door which she had seemingly claimed as hers. “But we’re leaving now.”

“I... Can someone please - please, tell me what’s going on..?” Alice looked at Celia, then at her brother, expecting an answer neither of them gave.  
“It’s going to… It’s going to be alright, Alice. Just come with us, and...” Hans made a feeble attempt to reassure her, to comfort her, to hopefully take her thoughts off the reasoning behind this situation. But the confusion had already firmly planted itself in Alice’s mind, and she wanted little more than answers right now.

Nonetheless, she did as told - taking whatever she deemed necessary to have with her while still being able to carry it, standing prepared next to Celia while her disorganized brother still needed some time. In the end, however, the siblings were ready to set off - reluctantly.  
“Where are we going?” Alice had asked. She had only a faint idea of where they could possibly go, though said idea was confirmed the second they stepped into the woods. “I don’t know,” was the answer she’d received from two sides. 

The first part was easy. After all, the clearing with the flowers was a place they’d visited many times before, even Celia. From that point on, however, their path was drawn in guesses. No one that they knew of had ever gone _far_ into the woods, and neither had they. Yet the only thing they could do was to keep walking.  
And they did, for what seemed like hours. Their short breaks did nothing to help them reorient themselves, to figure out where they were or where they were headed, but, in Celia’s words, “there's no choice.”

The forest became different, the further they walked. Slowly but steadily, noon approached, while the thickening woods did all they could to mask it. The welcoming path had long turned into a road verging on hostility, and even the birds did not know how to make it seem better than it was. In their place was something else, although Alice could not quite place it.  
Murmurs and growls, or something equally unnatural and disturbing. A sense of dread was permanently looming over these parts of the woods, and it only got worse the further they went on. Suddenly, however, there came an interruption.

“What do you guys think you’re doing?” said a voice, coming from above. Their heads turned up but saw nothing - when they looked in front of them again, however, they were met with a familiar face.  
In front of the humans stood the harpy, the four-winged phoenix from the forest known as Viz. There was no telling what he was thinking, or about to do. “Well?” he followed up. “You can’t just go here for no reason. These parts are dangerous,” he added.

“Please,” Hans said, hoping that whatever he said would be right. “We need to go to the village. One more time.”  
“What’s that? You’re missing us already, huh?” Viz grinned.

“N-no, I mean - Please. It’s… I can’t show you right now. We have nowhere to go; you _have_ to take us there. It’s important.”  
The rare sight of her brother being genuinely distressed led Alice to hold onto his arm, while staring up at the harpy that had watched over her, days ago.

Viz sighed. “Fine. I can’t leave you here, anyways - unless you intend on _dying_. Follow me,” he said, and started walking.  
There was no way they’d be able to remember this path, yet all the forestdwellers were entirely capable of wandering around the woods and still finding the way back to their village, from what they had seen. Though given that he could fly, Viz was probably particularly used to the layout of this forest.  
The forest was getting lighter again as more sunlight came through, and their surroundings became vibrant rather than dulled. With every step further than expected they took, they realized more and more how far they’d strayed. For now, they had to hope they’d be safe with Viz.

Alice could not stop wondering what had happened.

When they entered the village, once again, Viz went to Leiv’s house and kicked on the door a few times. “Leiv! C’mon,” he yelled after a few seconds without response. Finally, she opened the door, and Viz gestured for the siblings to go inside.  
“Viz, what is the meaning of this?” Leiv asked. “I thought they were-”  
“Let them explain,” Viz said, one wing ready to push the door shut. “I’m getting Hallow.”

He left, leaving the four others behind. Leiv’s face showed only few hints as to how she felt, as had been the case with Viz, earlier. Was their situation really that unusual?  
“Then, why have you returned?” Leiv finally began after a few moments of uncomfortable silence. “Had you forgetten something, we would have found a way to get it back to you. That can’t be it,” she said. “So why?”  
Alice merely looked down, knowing as little about the situation as Leiv did. Hans put a hand on her shoulder, but his gaze was aimed at Celia rather than Alice. Was he waiting for her to do something?

The mask made it impossible for anyone to tell whether she had noticed the look in his eyes, but she nonetheless did as was seemingly expected of her. Slowly, carefully, Celia took the mask off, her head hanging down in such a way that whatever was under it, it was still obscured by the hood. However, when she followed it up by taking the hood off, the problem became strikingly clear.  
Whatever was under the mask _didn’t exist_. There was nothing where her head was supposed to be.

Upon closer inspection, faint brown outlines were visible where her hair was, but even then it was only visible against the small white backgrounds some objects in the room provided. For all intents and purposes, Celia was _gone_.  
“Oh no,” Leiv muttered, barely audible. “No, this can’t - Please, would all of you sit down?” she continued, raising her voice but still speaking quietly. “Celia, when did this happen?”

“I woke up somewhere between morning and night,” she calmly responded. “I could not sleep again, so I chose to read. But I noticed I had some trouble taking the book. I knocked some things over.” She paused. Celia rarely spoke, and Alice was astounded at how she merely told what had happened while not seeming to care as much about the situation as she had done before.

“I lit a candle so I could see what I was doing, as well as actually get some use out of the book. The - the only problem was… well, that it didn’t help much. I could barely see myself. And Hans, well… No, I shouldn’t say more. He’ll tell you later. Sorry.”  
“So, this happened last night?” Leiv asked. Celia nodded - then, upon realizing that that was completely useless, chose to vocally confirm her thoughts instead.

“Can I put the mask back on?” Celia then asked. She hardly waited for an answer before doing it anyway, then said nothing else.  
“You were right in coming here, I suppose,” Leiv said after Celia had already chosen an answer for herself. “But I didn’t think this would happen. It hasn’t happened in… decades, I believe it is. I need Hallow to confirm my suspicions. Celia, how are you feeling?”  
“Not much different. Um, can I know why?”

“That’s... good to hear. Hopefully, everything should be alright - I’m really sorry for this.  
Leiv’s words were riddling in a way that indicated they lacked some vital information. Had she realized herself that they had no idea what she was referring to? Alice had to forgive her: this entire situation didn’t seem any less stressful for her than it was for them.

A creaking door announced the arrival of who Alice assumed was Hallow. It was immediately obvious what she did, indicated by her attire: a long, pitch-black robe and matching pointed hat. Her pale green hair hung loosely and a little messily, while a bright grin, unfitting for the situation at hand, adorned her face.  
“So, I heard I was needed?” she asked. “Viz told me something was up. So, lemme see...”

She turned towards the humans, carefully looking at each of them. “One of you, huh...” She moved around a bit, seemingly trying to figure out which of them it was that needed her help. Finally, she stopped, raising a pointed finger in Hans’ direction - before turning around to point it at Celia.  
“You,” she started, while pulling off Celia’s hood, “have been cursed.”

“C-Cursed..?” Alice said, cowering at the thought. Hans seemed equally shocked; Celia and Leiv hardly reacted, as if they had expected this.  
“This forest,” Hallow continued, “isn’t normal, but I think you’ve seen that much already. It’s tricky to explain, but I’ll try. Basically, the forest wants to protect itself. Does that make sense?” It did, so far. “Well, it’s got some little tricks to pull that off. Humans who are exposed to the forest’s own magic too much, they… well, they get cursed.”

“It does take a lot for that to actually happen, and the results usually aren’t pretty. The fact that you haven’t tried to murder anyone yet is pretty amazing, really! Anyways, what the curse actually does to you depends a lot on who you are and stuff, if that makes sense? If you’re entirely pure of heart, it won’t do anything, but there aren’t many people who actually are.”

“So, well, what now..? You don’t seem like you’d do well _there_ ,” Hallow said, not elaborating on what _there_ meant, “and from what I’ve been told, you’re not going to go back to your own village. Is that right?”  
“We _can’t_ go back,” Hans responded. “We have nowhere to go.”

“How mean! You’re standing right in a perfectly fine village, you know?” Hallow laughed a little.  
“But you don’t want humans here, do you?” Hans then said. It was a valid point: one of the things they did here, as the forestdwellers had told them many times, was seeking safety from the humans. So far, it was a success.

“Well, I mean… That’s true, yeah. But the pure of heart, they’re safe anyways, right? And the cursed… I don’t know. Do they still count as human?”  
Those words were strangely harsh, but no one knew what to say. Were they to agree with her? 

“Aw, don’t worry. You seem alright. I’m fine with letting you stay here, if that’s what you want! I’ll go around letting the others know. Oh, and you’re gonna need somewhere to live! I’ll see who’s fine with letting you live with them - for as long as you need to build your own house, that is.”  
Hallow was hasty in her words, but they couldn’t object. After all, they would eventually reach the same conclusion: that they had no choice but to live here.  
It was painful, sure. Leaving anything behind was. Facing the truth of what had happened to them was. But they had to be thankful for this chance. Considering the other possibilities, this may have very well been a matter of life or death, even it it didn’t seem like it yet.

Leiv, though she had been patiently listening to Hallow’s words, looked as if she was about to cry. “I’m so sorry,” she said to Celia. “I had no idea this was… this was going to happen.”  
“It’s fine,” Celia responded. “If you didn’t know, it’s not your fault.”

Celia was not usually this forgiving. But something in her voice sounded relieved, too. For what reasons? Had she realized that she did, in fact, like this village, in the few fateful days they spent here? Either way, she’d be in trouble now if she _didn’t_.   
“Leiv,” Hallow said, “can you please take care of them? See who are willing to take them in - hey, do you guys mind sleeping seperately?”

“Not a problem,” Hans said.  
“Right,” Hallow continued. “Then, instead, I’ll go see if I can figure out where your house will go. I’m assuming none of you have much experience with that, but… We’re all totally fine with helping. I mean, we’ve had to build most of this too. So, uh...Yeah, that’s going to be fine! It’s all going to be fine. Alright, Leiv. I’ll leave them to you. See ya!”

Hallow left as suddenly as she had entered, and Leiv sighed as she closed the door behind her. “She’s quite a handful, as you may have noticed,” she said, “but she’s powerful. How are you feeling?”  
“A little nervous,” Hans said. Alice nodded in agreement. Celia said nothing.

“I understand,” she said. “It’s hard, isn’t it? Either way, I suppose it’s time for me to welcome you to your new home. I.. I hope you’ll enjoy it here.” She paused and looked down for a moment, then raised her head once again and carefully smiled.  
“Let’s make the best of this.”


	4. The Girl and the Deer

As they were warned for - and had agreed to, as well - the three would stay in separate homes for the time being, until they had built one of their own. While Hallow’s wording had made it fairly obvious that they had no real choice either way, unless they were willing to overly inconvenience the villagers who had been so kind to them, Alice was now longing to be with her siblings.  
She laid on a neatly made bed, her stuffed cat doll sitting by her side, her legs rhythmically pounding on the bed to signal that she was deep in thought. It was Meteo, the deertaur, who had offered her a place to stay as one of the first to come forward. Apparently, this bed was intended for Meteor to stay in during the winter, when the lake became too cold and even mermaids would struggle. But it was still warm, and so it was unused.

From what Meteo told her, Hans had already set out with whoever it was that let him stay with them - Alice couldn’t quite catch the name - to gather materials. Celia was to stay with Trip, but no news from that side had come to him yet.  
“Meteo,” Alice finally said, “can I do something to help, too?”

Meteo, who was quietly watering a number of plants that lined the wall - they seemed to be herbs - stopped, then looked at Alice. “Um, like- like what?” he asked.

“I want to help with the house,” she said, a vague determination in her voice being coupled with her not being sure whether she could.

“I don’t think you can,” Meteo calmly said. “Sorry, I don’t mean it like that. Um, what I mean… You still need to gather stuff to, like, actually build it. Right?” Alice nodded as she listened with a great interest, upon which Meteo continued. “But it’s a ton of heavy stuff. I don’t know if _I_ can even lift any of it. Of course,” he now approached Alice, “once all _that_ is said and done, I’m sure there’s more than enough you can do. So don’t give up yet.”  
He began to stroke Alice’s head, carefully, then sat down in front of the bed and looked up at her. “There’s a lot of other stuff to do here, though! You’re not getting bored anytime soon. Promise.”

“What kind of stuff?” Alice asked.

“Well- Um, most of us have certain things we do here. A lot of the adults, especially the strong ones, have to keep this forest safe. The forest itself tries, but it takes long for the curse to have any effect.” Alice looked down a little at these words. “Oh… I’m sorry. Um, but… Well, we have people patrolling the forest to look out for humans who get too close to the village - and scare them away. And some of them hunt, too, I think. Does that make sense..?”

“Anyways, that’s what the stronger people here do. I’m… not that strong. We just do whatever, pretty much? You know Raise, right? He makes candy and things like that. As for me, well, I usually gather and prepare food. It’s… not much special, really. But - if you want to, you can come with me, for the day?”

“If that’s okay,“ Alice said. Meteo smiled and stood up, then looked around. He opened a low cabinet, taking out a large basket with an empty sack inside.

“Of course it is!” Meteo reached a hand out to Alice, who gently took it and stood up, giving Meteo a grin back. “Alright, then we’ll need to go now, before it gets dark. It’s probably good if you get to see a little more of the forest, too.”

Once the two of them had set off, Alice found herself trying to balance her attention between her surroundings and where Meteo was going. He’d promised that it wouldn’t be so far, there was a good area close by where he liked to go, but to Alice, the repetitiveness the forest seemed to have was disorienting.  
“You’re not the first newcomer to struggle with this,” Meteo said as he looked behind and saw how Alice had difficulty with her pace. “If it’s okay, I’ll give you a ride,” he said, lowering his body. “I don’t know if this’ll work,” Meteo then said once Alice got closer. “But it’s worth a try, right?”  
Alice hesitated a little as she carefully sat down on his back. His build wasn’t suited for this; anyone could see that. But if Meteo wanted to try it, then she wanted to help him, too.

Meteo slowly stood up, his legs immediately desperate to find any sort of balance. After a short moment, however, the wobbling stopped and he calmed down. “You’re actually lighter than I expected,” Meteo said. “Okay, um… Let’s go.” He trod cautiously; keeping someone on his back was one thing, walking like that was something else entirely.

“I can walk,” Alice said, hoping to relieve him of the burden that she currently was. “N-no, it’s fine. Really,” was Meteo’s response. Alice doubted that, but Meteo was particularly insistent, for some reason. There wasn’t much she could do, in that case, so she held tightly onto him and tried to focus on her surroundings instead.

It was somewhere in the afternoon and the sun was shining. Though this part of the forest looked similar to that right next to her own - her former village, there were subtle differences that she only really noticed just now. Here, the forest looked more untouched: the forestdwellers treated their home with more care than any hunter could.   
Alice also noticed the chirping of birds above: it was unlike any she’d ever heard in the places that were familiar to her, but she recognized it as something she could hear whenever she was nearing the village. She wondered what those birds looked like, and though she searched, she couldn’t actually see any.

“We’re there, Alice,” Meteo said as he came to a halt, next to a small stream Alice could barely even hear. First allowing Alice to gently step down, he then took the empty sack that laid in the basket and gave it to her. “There’s a lot of stuff around here you can get,” he told her. “There’s all kinds of plants - and then there’s stuff like berries and nuts, too. Not a lot of mushrooms yet, I think. Anyways, you can just pick whatever’s edible. I know a fair bit about this kind of stuff, so if you’re not sure if something’s good or not, I’ll help, alright?”

Meteo gave a confident grin, then began to walk around. Alice walked along with him at first, to observe the way he did it, but finally began to move to all the little bushes Meteo missed - though she wasn’t sure whether that was on purpose or not - and gathered whatever she could reach with her short arms.  
Lots of little berries began to pile up, and Alice felt proud. “Nice find,” Meteo had said as he walked by, much to Alice’s relief. “Those are really good.”

Once those bushes had been emptied, however, Alice found that she started having a lot more difficulty keeping up with Meteo. He had all the experience - and she had what, a handful of berries? He was excited, and so was she. She simply could not possibly compete with him.  
“What’s wrong, Alice?” Meteo asked as the two crossed paths once more, and Alice’s abrupt shift in behavior had caught his eye.

“I can’t find anything,” she said. “Nothing at all.”

“I’m starting to have some trouble, too,” he said, though the basket he held showed that he had considerably more success up to this point. “I’ve found a lot I can’t reach,” he then said, approaching Alice and kneeling down. “I think I might need some help.”  
Alice could tell what he was getting at, pointing at his own shoulders while his gaze focused on her. Mindful of her step as to not harm Meteo accidentally, she carefully made her way up to the deertaur’s shoulders; as he rose, Alice could see far more, perched as she was. She found herself grasping for the boy’s antlers to hold on, but decided against it until Meteo himself had offered it as a suggestion, noting that he ‘didn’t really mind'.

Like earlier, Meteo’s every step seemed calculated: as a deertaur, his sense of balance was particularly important to him, and so was Alice’s safety, currently. As he made his way to the place he had mentioned, Alice could already see what the trouble he’d referred to was: though there were several low-hanging branches bearing fruit, all of them had been just too high for someone such as Meteo to reach. With Alice added, they would be able to pick them off with ease.

Meteo tried to adjust his position with a few small steps every time, giving Alice ample opportunity to harvest that which Meteo couldn’t get to. As she gently lowered the fruits into the basket which Meteo held up - the berries she had gathered were already added to the rest of its contents - Alice noticed that, familiar as their generic shape and color had seemed, these were unknown to her. She wondered just how many things there were left to discover in the forest.

While Alice grabbed the last few she could see, Meteo started talking to her. “Alice,” he said, “is it okay if we stop by the lake for a moment? I want to see if there’s anything we got that Meteor can use.”  
Alice was lowering herself down, and just as she was about to land on the ground, Meteo’s hand guided her onto his back, where she had sat earlier. “I need practice, right?” he said, quietly laughing as Alice looked down in thought.

Why hadn’t Meteo used another, fallen tree branch to reach the fruits? Why was he so insistent on this ‘practice’? Were these attempts to make Alice feel like she belonged here, like she hadn’t been here only a day? So far, Alice had greatly enjoyed her time here - but she knew that she wasn’t like the forestdwellers, either. The forest itself had proven her to be ‘pure of heart’, whatever that meant - did that mean Celia wasn’t? And what about Hans?

“Meteor is our resident plant expert,” Meteo said, not realizing that Alice was only partially paying attention. “Or my resident plant expert, at least. Most of the stuff I know I’ve learned from him,” he said with an added laugh.

“Seems like there isn’t all that much to do when you can’t leave the lake,” Meteo continued. “So it’s logical to focus on certain things like that. He especially enjoys it, though - you haven’t seen much, but I know he spends a lot of time trying to grow all kinds of things. So I thought I’d give him something to try out.”

“Alice,” Meteo then said, slightly turning his head, “do you like being here?”

Alice stared at him for a brief moment. “I think so,” she then answered him - but the caution with which she uttered her words was even more clear than her answer was. She liked to be here; did she like _having_ to be here?

“It’s fine if you don’t know yet,” Meteo said to her as he began to walk. “Both you and the forest need time to adjust. Visitors are rare here, if you haven’t noticed yet.”

“Meteo?” Alice asked in a barely-audible voice, while she held onto the deertaur’s body. “Are we really the first humans you’ve ever seen?”

“Mhm. I’ve never been outside the forest,” he said. “And humans don’t usually make it this far, anyways - if there were others, I never saw them. Then again, aren’t we the first forestdwellers you’ve ever seen?”  
Alice’s gaze was fixated on her surroundings; her ears did all they could to listen to Meteo. “But why don’t you ever leave the forest?” she asked. 

“Um, I don’t know how much I can say about that, personally - I was born here. There’s some of us, though,” Meteo said as his pace slowed down, “who have been outside. I’m fairly sure they don’t like telling the kids about the details, since they don’t want us to try anything weird, but there’s occasionally someone who will trade for things we can’t get here over at the village.”  
Alice tried to remember the days when she went to the small marketplace, never busy enough for more than four stalls, though it was of little use. She could not possibly recall all the people she’d seen there - after all, she was usually preoccupied with other things on those days. “You can try to ask around later,” Meteo then said. “I’m curious, too.”

“Then,” he added, “there’s some forestdwellers who came from somewhere else. There’s at least a few who lived among humans before, but ended up coming here instead. Most of us, though,” he mentioned while he finally came to a halt near the lake, “have always lived here.”

“Meteo!” yelled a voice from the lake. With an eager speed, Meteor swam over to the two, as Alice hopped onto the ground - upon which Meteo responded with a quiet “I think my back’s broken now,” followed by a laugh.

“Hey,” Meteo then said to Meteor as he sat down, “what do you think of this?”  
Setting all they’d gathered on the ground, Meteo kept a proud smile on his face as Meteor inspected everything. From the look of it, he was satisfied.  
“Can I take these?” Meteor eventually asked, pointing to one of the larger fruits and a few berries. “This one, too,” he said, now referring to a small, plain-looking plant. “If that’s alright.”

Meteo stifled a laugh. “Of course - that’s why I got them! That’s why I _always_ get them. Take what you want.” The mermaid hid his blush and, having taken all he’d asked for, brought them to somewhere a little further along the edge of the lake, where he stored them somewhere obscured by the tall grass. Then, he suddenly turned around. “Hey, Alice?” he called out. “Come on over here for a bit.”

As she was told, Alice quickly ran over, avoiding the growing flowers along the edge like Meteo had done before. “Look at this,” he said once she’d arrived, Meteo trailing behind. “Ever seen this before?”  
His gaze was fixated on a small, sturdy-looking plant, which Alice couldn’t quite see the significance of. Yet Meteor, his tail fins repeatedly flapping up and down, was clearly excited to show her. Near the little plant were several similar ones, but this one was by far the furthest in its growth.

“Watch,” he said. Meteo didn’t look as curious as Alice did, nor as excited as Meteor, but he nonetheless stood there. “This one grew quick, didn’t it?” Meteo then asked. Rather than answering, however, Meteor carefully leaned on the edge, then took the stem firmly in his hand - and with slow movements, began pulling it up.

What came out was not at all what Alice had expected. Perhaps it’d be simply some interesting roots, or some kind of strange vegetable she’d never seen before. But this was something very, very different: it was a small, chubby yellow creature, with a content look on its face. “Um,” Alice said, not knowing what to think, “h-hello?”

“Mandoras are one of the weirder things in this forest,” Meteor said, ignoring the fact his lower body was in fact that of a fish. “I’m not really sure myself what they are. But they like coming here, so it’s my duty to take care of them.”

Alice carefully reached a hand out to the strange critter, eventually gently petting it. “I think it’s a bit lonely,” Meteor continued. “It grew really fast, way faster than the others. So I’ll keep this one with me for a bit longer, until the others are ready too. Usually they head off into the forest on their own after that.”

“It’s cute,” Alice said. The Mandora was peaceful, and seemed to like being petted. “I know, right?” Meteor said. “I thought you’d like to see one. Especially since you’re new.” He smiled as he stroked the Mandora a couple of times, then looked at Alice for a moment. “Hey, Alice, what’re your siblings doing? I’ve only met them… once, maybe? Actually, no - I haven’t even seen your sister, have I?”

The question wasn’t one that Alice expected. “I’m not sure,” she said. “Celia might be with Trip? But she doesn’t like talking to people much. Hans should be gathering things for the house, I think.” Alice briefly averted her gaze, let out an even smaller sigh and looked up again. “Do you want to talk to them?”

“Um, I guess? I mean, I won’t really be able to visit _them_. But it'd be nice if I could meet them? Actually, I-” Meteor was getting flustered. “They just seem like nice people, that’s all...”

Alice noticed she was laughing a little. “Hey, Alice, if you want to go back to the village, that’s fine. You know where the path is, right? And take the food with you; I’ll be staying here,” Meteo said. “Go ask them,” he finally added, much to the dismay to Meteor - who had already hidden his face underwater.

But when Alice returned, neither of them could be located. Trip’s door would not open, and the house where Hans was staying had been empty all day. She could only wait and imagine what they were doing - what _were_ they doing?


	5. The Shadow and the Knight

For Hans, morning had come much earlier than usual. In exchange for offering some space up, his host had been granted a temporary break from his patrol duties - an offer anyone else would have graciously accepted. But for him, that didn’t quite seem the case.

“It’s in my nature, you see,” the man had said when he first introduced himself. “The name is Sanctity - name me as you please, however. Some are… fond of bestowing different titles upon me.”

He was most certainly an unusual character, and his armor-clad appearance was imposing. The bull’s legs drew attention to the massive pair of horns situated on top of his head, and the stern look underneath. Yet after the first few moments of their meeting, Hans realized he was not intimidated by him any longer.

The inside of his home seemed more akin to some sort of barracks rather than a forestdweller’s house; a large suit of bronze armor guarded the main room, and various weapons - some battleworn - decorated the walls. Hans could see why he’d rather keep his duties.

But not all of the house was like that. There were multiple beds here: one surrounded by weaponry, the other by flowers and silks. “Lady Saika,” he explained, “offered to stay elsewhere for the time being. I could not reject. She was very excited to have new villagers, it seemed.”

Now Sanctity was outside, likely preparing for the day, while Hans, though he was already dressed and ready, was left on his own. Although he wanted to know how Alice and Celia were doing, it was practically impossible that they’d be awake at this hour - especially Alice. They went through a long day, too, and while he was no stranger to dealing with exhaustion, he’d rather let his little sisters have their sleep.

It wasn’t, however, the feeling of tiredness that kept in his mind. He’d seen what happened to Celia, and he suspected Alice was struggling with doubts of her own. Sooner or later, they’d know about him too - but no matter what, he was to keep them happy, to keep them free of worry. No matter what, Hans kept telling himself. No matter what.

His hands had gotten strangely deformed in the time between now and when he first noticed the discoloration at his fingertips, the day before. Though the faint candlelight made it difficult to make out all the characteristics of his pitch-black hands, they hardly looked like those of a human: his fingers had gotten elongated and were much more slender, like his wrists were beginning to, slowly but surely.

But as he further looked, it seemed that not everything had progressed in the same way. Before he went to sleep, his chest was an inky black mess, forcing itself into a shape the rest of his body would not accept; now, however, only a darkened spot was left, and even that was mostly obscured by his binder. His legs, he felt, had remained stagnant in the progressing of the curse - he had to make sure to check back tonight and see whether it had changed during the day, for better or worse.

Nothing about this situation currently left him more tired than simply sitting around and doing nothing. The least he could do was prepare a breakfast for him and his host; from everything it looked as if today would be even longer than yesterday, at least for the two of them. He wondered when Sanctity would return, but paid it little mind anyways: he’d simply greet the knight, eat together with him and they’d head out. It wasn’t hard.

While the impression he’d gotten was that the fighters and guards were more fond of meat, Hans was surprised to find a more varied gathering of ingredients; perhaps Saika had different tastes. Either way, he had more than enough to work with, even if the space in what qualified as a ‘kitchen’ was scarce here.

As he rummaged through all the cabinets that looked vaguely like what he needed, Hans noticed several things: first, this part of the house held a scent of flowers, and so he doubted Sanctity did much cooking. Second, when he believed to have found a spot for storing valuables, one notable exception was a simple scrap of purple fabric: not the unusual location, however, but the seemingly familiar design was what caught his eye. Somewhere, deep in his mind, he knew what this was a part of, but today his mind was not cooperating much.

It was certainly unusual to do something as simple as preparing breakfast in the forest. Many things clued him that there were a great deal of things where the forestdwellers simply had to make do with what they had, and yet they were doing it exceptionally well.

A sturdy knock on the wooden door drew his attention. “Coming in,” Sanctity’s voice said from its other side before entering. Hans had just finished his self-assigned task, setting two plates on the nearest functional table he could find. When Sanctity walked in, his expression changed only subtly, but spoke thousands of words. 

“Well,” he began, sitting down at the table, “this was not quite as I expected. You’re hardworking, and we’ll need that,” he then said as an unexpected smile appeared on his face. “I can already say that I am glad to have you here.” Hans gave a tiny nervous laugh before replying to his praise. “It’s the least I could do, but thank you.”

As Hans sat down, he noticed Sanctity brushing some of his snow-white hair out of his face, and saw the eager glint in his eyes. It was then that he noticed how youthful he looked in reality: perhaps it was his somewhat antiquated manner of speaking or the battle-hardened yet fierce way he held himself, but only just now did he realize the two of them weren’t all that different, certainly not in age. On the other hand, it seemed that the forestdwellers might not share the aging process of humans, so it wasn’t actually unlikely that there was some difference: tens or hundreds of thousands of years, he didn’t know which.

“Lady Leiv,” Sanctity then spoke, “told me that she would be sending that harpy - Viz - out to keep watch. Although I have scouted the area beforehand, we shall be treading near the riskier parts of the forest. I, personally, shall do all I can to ensure our safety, but we will be having an additional eye in the air to assist us.”

“Our task for today,” he continued, “is to gather all we can in the way of materials. While we, ourself, are somewhat averse to destroying trees in order to gain building materials, I know that - wait, no. Are you familiar with the deeper parts of this forest?”

“Vaguely,” Hans answered.

“The deep forest has its own residents, but they are far more dangerous and uncontrolled. Some of them,” Sanctity spoke more slowly and quietly, “are prone to destruction in their rage. That leaves us to take whatever they leave behind. All we need is there - we merely have to bring it back to the village.”

Sanctity stood up, his armor clanging against the furniture as he did, then paused.

“Let me see your hands,” he said.

Hans had not expected to meet Alice or Celia, at least for as long as he would be in the forest with Sanctity. Perhaps that was one of the main contributing factors to the carelessness of his which he only just realized - he hadn’t put on gloves yet. But he couldn’t simply ignore Sanctity’s request, lest he draw any more attention, raise any more suspicion. Reluctantly, he stretched one of them out towards Sanctity, but did not dare look at it himself.

“Don’t tell anyone else,” Hans said, as he felt a cold metal gauntlet brush against it a few times. “Please.”

Rather than giving an elaborate reply, Sanctity simply nodded, as if to signal that it would never be mentioned again - not even in privacy. As he then went to the door, Hans took the gloves that he’d forgotten and put them on. They had become rather ill-fitting, and left most of the lower part of his hands uncovered, but it had to do for now. “Let’s go, then,” he said as he went outside.

The morning air was still cool, and the clothes Hans wore didn’t even feel so bad, now. Nevertheless, there was a painful feeling of discomfort that constantly nagged at him - he needed to not think about it, but as things were going now, that would only become more and more difficult.

After a brief rustling in the trees above, Viz landed in front of the two. “Morning,” he said, using a wing to brush away the few leaves he’d accidentally pulled with him. “So, Sanc. Which way are you guys going?”

“You should know, Viz.” Sanctity frowned as he turned to face the nearest path, one that led out of the village and deeper into the woods. “And if you don’t, follow us.”

With a sigh, Sanctity began walking - Hans trying to match his pace. Despite all the heavy armor Sanctity was wearing, Hans found that he was struggling to keep up with the more clearly trained half of the duo, and only after they’d already been walking for a while did Sanctity notice and slow down.

“Spare your strength,” he said. “We’ll have to carry everything back.”

Occasionally, a few movements in the trees would alert them that Viz was near - though they were limited, and he remained hidden most of the time. “It is unfair to bring you into the deep forest on your first day,” Sanctity said. “However, I am thoroughly convinced that no harm will befall you. If it does, the bird shall take the blame.”

A strange sound came from somewhere in the trees, but Sanctity kept walking. It was only after a few more minutes that he stopped. “We should be there,” he said. “Look around.”

The forest was much darker here than it had been on the way there, yet in this particular area the trees were sparse: many fallen trees were laying around, and though they were mainly smaller ones, some massive logs drew the most attention.

They weren’t clean cuts, but it wasn’t natural, either. _Someone_ had done this, and Hans realized why Sanctity had been so worried about his safety. There was no sign of anyone being close, but the scene itself was unsettling enough. 

“Come,” Sanctity said as he took a thin, long piece of wood in one arm. “See how much you can carry - or help me take the larger ones. It is up to you.”

“You know I’m not _that_ strong, right..?” Hans looked worried as he tried out a few. Sanctity then walked over to him, dropping what he’d found and picking up one side of a larger one, which he dragged behind him, in the process.

“But I am,” he said in a lighter tone, pointing towards the side of the short log that was still on the ground. “Eventually, we shall be bringing _all_ of this back. Do what you can; so will I.”

Hans took the other side, carefully lifting it onto his shoulder. The gloves helped protect his hands from the rough surface as he did so, but the weight was a different problem altogether. Even though he could feel that Sanctity was - obviously - carrying most of the weight, he wondered how long this would take them - and how long it’d be before whoever was here came back.

“If we bring all this the entire way to the village,” Sanctity said as they started walking, “we will be spending our nights here. The plan is to leave them somewhere halfway - safe, and close enough for the other villagers to lend us a hand. What do you think of that?”

“That… that sounds good,” Hans said. He’d have to get used to this, at least for the day, or he wouldn’t be walking anymore at all - could they really not ask someone else to do this? Then again, it would be _his_ house, and the forestdwellers had done so much for him and his siblings already. But hadn’t they expected a little much from him?

“Have you never done this before?” Sanctity asked as they dropped the first log.

“N-no, I’m - Most of the things we needed in the village could just be gotten there, somehow. I really didn’t need to do much of this, I’m a musician. So, well...” Hans scratched his chin and kept walking. “You seem especially good at this, though.”

“I’ve lived among humans,” Sanctity said, “in the guise of a soldier. Armor does wonders to hide one’s features - and, given that a high enough rank is achieved, horns can be said to be a decoration; not one who notices.”

“Then why’d you come here? Did you meet another… well, someone else like you?”

“Not quite,” Sanctity said as he lifted up another log, with little effort. “But it is close.” Hans holding the other side, the two started walking again.

“Though some of us are capable of feigning humanity for some time, sooner or later, one will turn against us. As for me, I found myself stranded in these woods one day, after a long, arduous battle. It was Lady Saika who brought me to the village.”

“That sounds awful,” Hans said. He knew he had to say more, but what? There was no way he could imagine what he had gone through, not as a human - though he, too, was becoming such less and less.

After a while of walking the same path in silence, Sanctity spoke up again. “Perhaps I would have lived a peaceful life, such as you, in another world - one without betrayal. But it is several hundreds of years too late to go back, and I am here now. And I must admit, it is pleasant to have new villagers join us.”

“My life,” Hans said, “isn’t as peaceful as you think, though it certainly isn’t comparable to yours. But - hundreds of years?”

“The human lifespan is only a fraction of ours,” Sanctity said. “Those who have lived with humans learn that the hard way.”

Hans paused. “Then, how old-”

“Eleven thousand and sixty-seven, as of a few days ago. I keep track,” Sanctity interrupted him. “To our kind, I wouldn’t be too old. Quite young for my rank, in fact.”

“Belated happy birthday, then,” Hans said, still trying to wrap his head around it. He’d suspected the forestdwellers were older than they seemed, but compared to his expectations, this was extreme. But what was going to happen to him, if what Sanctity said was true? What was going to happen to Alice and Celia?

“Thank you,” Sanctity said. Hans had gotten distracted by their conversation, and was no longer paying attention to the progress they were making - though he noticed that they’d already gotten quite far. Even then, they would still be going for a while, and he didn’t dare guess when they’d be finished.

“It’s about the same aging process for most of us,” Sanctity eventually continued, “but some of us appear to be different. Viz, for example - he doesn’t _seem_ to be much older, compared to me, but he has been here for longer than anyone can remember. The forest spirit, too, is as old as this forest itself, yet in the few times I caught a glimpse of him, he looked to be even younger.”

“The forest spirit,” Hans repeated. “After all I’ve seen and heard here, I should’ve expected that.”

“He appears only very rarely,” Sanctity said. “It is best not to get your hopes up.” 

“I won’t,” Hans said as he laughed. By now, they’d reached a point Hans was satisfied with, at least for the day, but Sanctity wanted to gather more. So, until Sanctity believed it to be enough, they had to keep going - but as they entered the place with the broken trees once more, a loud, rumbling noise struck the area.

Hans couldn’t quite place it. It sounded like a roar of sorts, but not a kind he’d ever heard before: this was close to demonic. The same sound repeated itself, and Sanctity stood entirely still. From above, Viz came flying down, landing in front of the two as he’d done before, and turned around to see what was visible from the ground.

“No more deep forest for today,” Viz said with some urgency in his voice. “There’s company, and I don’t think it’s happy to see any of us.”

Both Hans and Sanctity tried to look beyond Viz to see whether there was something there, but it hardly helped. Visibility was, as Hans had found out, painfully low in the deep forest, and they were to rely on those terrible, terrible roars to figure how close… whatever it was that lurked there was to them.

Sanctity still made no movements, and the tone in which he spoke was awfully calm. “It’s Force,” he said to the other two. “I am the one he seeks.”

There was no time to ask for explanation, nor was there time to listen to one. By now, Sanctity seemed to understand that as well, as the demonic bellows became constantly louder. “Viz, guide Hans to safety. I will follow and defend from behind, if he chases us. And once all that is done,” Sanctity turned around, readying himself to run, “pray Soul notices us.”

Following the knight’s commands, Hans began to run as fast as he could, while Viz flew a short distance in front of him. Of course, they’d walked the path to the village at least a couple dozen times by now, but in such a rush, it seemed Viz was the only one of the two who could keep his head cool enough to remember the pathway.

A crashing sound marked the point at which, just as predicted, ‘Force’ or whatever the monster’s name was chased the trio. Though Hans knew this was not the time, and so did the sense of fear that encompassed most of his current thoughts, he could not help but look behind him to see what exactly it was that was hunting them down.

Armor isn’t quite suited to run in. Sanctity’s reddened, sweat-covered face said as much, but so did the impression Hans got from the one glimpse he had of the massive, armored monstrosity before Sanctity told him to keep running.

After what seemed like hours, the colors around began to change to the lighter hue they were used to. But, Hans thought, isn’t this the worst possible thing you could do? To lead a destructive creature like that to the village-

A loud crashing sound. Viz and Sanctity stopped, and Hans followed their example. This time, he could actually take the time to look at what exactly “Force” was - he didn’t seem to be moving anymore. But even with all the time in the world, he would still not be able to figure it out.

The armored figure was mostly similar to Sanctity - however, he seemed to be much larger, and Sanctity had already impressed him with his size. But while Sanctity’s armor gleamed an only slightly dulled bronze, Force’s was a grim purple mess of spikes and shadows. Not a single part of what could be underneath all the armor seemed to be uncovered; he looked demonic nonetheless. 

Someone else was crouched near him, he saw. Just as he did, she noticed she was being watched and stood up.

She seemed like a mouse next to the massive warrior. Perhaps she was, judging from the way most of her face was kept hidden under her cloak. What Hans could see, however, was that the red-haired girl was holding a broom in one hand, and nervously - or impatiently? - tapping the ground with it.

“Goodbye,” she said, before mounting the broom and flying off.

“That’s Soul for ya,” Viz said as he turned around and waited for the others to show they wanted to keep walking too. “Doesn’t like people much, I think.”

Sanctity noticed the hint and continued their way to the village. “Soul and Hallow,” he said to Hans, “have put a barrier of sorts in place. It is meant to keep the residents of the deep forest confined, so that they will not cause harm to any man or fellow dweller.”

“However,” he continued as they began to near the village, “even for two witches, it takes a considerable amount of magical strength to maintain it. Thus, they have to keep watch and strengthen the barrier at certain locations when there is a risk of the barrier shattering.”

“It’s not as bad as it sounds,” Viz finally said as they came to a halt and he spread out his wings. “It’s just Force who’s a little messed up. Curse got into his head, it seems.”

Viz flew away, and Hans stood there, silently, staring at his own hands. There was no doubt the curse was affecting him too - the only question was how much it eventually would. He felt uneasy, and it was only looking to worsen which each passing day. Even these doubts were painful.

He knew he had to stop thinking about it. So did Sanctity, who reassuringly laid a hand on his shoulder and looked him in the eyes.

“Shall we go home, them?”


End file.
